September
Wk 37–39
The quietest stretch among this region's best weather weeks: crowd level around 65 out of 100, weather comfort near 87.
- Crowd level
- 61–73
- Comfort
- 85–90
Portugal · Madeira
Madeira: a volcanic island between laurel forest and levada
The main island of an archipelago of two inhabited islands and two uninhabited island groups rises to 1,862 metres at the Pico Ruivo. Its laurel forest has been a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site since 1999, crossed by the levadas, the island's historic irrigation channels.
Busiest week
SeptemberCrowd level 100
Wk 36 · 233,597 overnight stays
Quietest weeks
JanuaryCrowd level 0–2
Wk 2–4 · measured against the region's own year, not against other regions
Sweet spot
SeptemberCrowd level 61–73
Wk 37–39 · quietest while the weather still holds
Warmest month
21 °CComfort 96
August · around 7 mm of rain in the month
Madeira in brief
Madeira is the main island of an archipelago that also includes the smaller island of Porto Santo and the uninhabited Ilhas Desertas and Ilhas Selvagens; together they form the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The main island covers 740.7 square kilometres, is volcanic in origin and rises to 1,862 metres at the Pico Ruivo. About a fifth of the island is covered by the Laurisilva laurel forest, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site since 1999, crossed by the levadas, the island's historic irrigation channels. Settled by the Portuguese from 1420, the island first became the centre of Portuguese sugar cane cultivation and, in the sixteenth century, a wine exporter.
When is Madeira busy, when is it quiet?
Click a week. The panel on the right explains why it is busy or quiet.
Weather profile
Weather comfort is an absolute scale (0 = poor, 100 = ideal) and a second axis next to the season-relative crowd level.
JanuaryØ 7
FebruaryØ 23
MarchØ 38
AprilØ 60
MayØ 62
JuneØ 73
JulyØ 84
AugustØ 95
SeptemberØ 74
OctoberØ 64
NovemberØ 41
DecemberØ 22
Colour = season-relative crowd levelBar = weather comfort (Sun & warmth), absolute 0–100
Why this week?
September · Wk 37
Crowd level73/100 · peak season
quietbusy
Weather comfort60/100 · Sun & warmth
+14 % versus the region's annual average.
- Contributing months
- September (100 %)
- Overnight stays/week
- 201,905
- School-holiday pressure (source markets)
- 16 % of source markets on school holidays · -2 % crowding from holidays
- Main source markets
- Portugal (42 %) · United Kingdom (15 %) · Germany (10 %) · 82% of guests modelled
- Region range
- 114,490–233,597 (avg 177,757)
- Base years
- 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 (excluding 2020, 2021)
v1: Crowd-Score aus der Eurostat-Basisschicht (Übernachtungen), moduliert vom Schulferien-Druck der Quellmärkte, region-spezifisch gewichtet mit dem Quellland-Mix. Season-relativ zur Region. Event-Schichten folgen.
Plan your trip
Pre-filled with the next date in week 37.
DestinationMadeira
Travel datesPick a week in the calendar
FlightSearch flights (opens in a new tab)
StayFind stays (opens in a new tab)
ActivityExplore activities (opens in a new tab)Ad · commission link
Photos: Johny Goerend · reisetopia · Dino Reichmuth on Unsplash
The travel year in Madeira, month by month
The year as a table to read and to cite: crowd level for every month, plus weather comfort and temperature from the climate normals.
| Month | Crowd level0–100, season-relative | Weather comfort0–100, profile “mild” | Avg temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7 | 62 | 13 °C |
| February | 23 | 60 | 13 °C |
| March | 38 | 59 | 13 °C |
| April | 60 | 66 | 14 °C |
| May | 62 | 77 | 15 °C |
| June | 73 | 87 | 18 °C |
| July | 84 | 96 | 19 °C |
| August | 95 | 96 | 21 °C |
| September | 74 | 89 | 20 °C |
| October | 64 | 79 | 18 °C |
| November | 41 | 70 | 16 °C |
| December | 22 | 63 | 14 °C |
The crowd level is season-relative: 100 is the annual peak of Madeira itself, not the busiest destination in Europe. The figures say when it is quiet here — not where it is quieter than elsewhere.
Weather comfort 0–100 from the climate normals, profile “mild” – the same profile as the recommendation above, not the selection in the calendar. A “–” means the data for that month is missing.
Index 2.0 · As of 25/08/2026
The windows worth catching
Three windows from the model: first whether the weather suits the region, then how busy it gets.
June
Wk 24–26
A second option, also with usable weather: crowd level around 77, weather comfort near 88.
- Crowd level
- 76–78
- Comfort
- 85–90
August–September
Wk 34–36
The region's peak: crowd level around 96 out of 100. Only if the dates are fixed.
- Crowd level
- 92–100
- Comfort
- 92–95
Madeira compared with Europe
How full the accommodation is here, measured against Europe – on the only measure on which two travel regions can be compared.
- Bed occupancy in Madeira
- 55.0
- European median
- 23.1
per cent of bed places, annual mean
per cent of bed places, annual mean
Furthest from the median: November, at 3.2× the value. Closest to the median: July, at 1.6× the value.
Mean across 12 months, weighted by their weeks. This occupancy compares travel regions with one another. The crowding in the table above compares Madeira with itself. The two measures are never combined.
Climate through the year
Average temperature with day/night range and precipitation across the twelve months.
- Avg temperature
- Day/night range
- Precipitation
| Month | Avg temperature (°C) | Day avg (°C) | Night avg (°C) | Precipitation (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 12 | 13 | 12 | 42 |
| Feb | 12 | 13 | 11 | 46 |
| Mar | 12 | 13 | 11 | 48 |
| Apr | 13 | 14 | 12 | 40 |
| May | 15 | 15 | 14 | 22 |
| Jun | 17 | 18 | 16 | 27 |
| Jul | 18 | 19 | 18 | 6 |
| Aug | 20 | 21 | 19 | 7 |
| Sep | 19 | 20 | 18 | 19 |
| Oct | 18 | 18 | 17 | 49 |
| Nov | 15 | 16 | 14 | 56 |
| Dec | 13 | 14 | 13 | 56 |
The band shows mean daytime to nighttime temperature. Precipitation shown as monthly total (mm). Typical monthly value (climate normal), not a forecast.
How sunny?
How much sun a typical day delivers, month by month, expressed as hours of full midday sun.
Very sunny
≈ 5.1 h of full midday sun per day, annual average
Jul
Sunniest month
| Month | ≈ h of full midday sun per day |
|---|---|
| Jan | 2.9 |
| Feb | 3.8 |
| Mar | 4.9 |
| Apr | 6.0 |
| May | 6.8 |
| Jun | 7.0 |
| Jul | 7.3 |
| Aug | 6.8 |
| Sep | 5.4 |
| Oct | 4.2 |
| Nov | 3.1 |
| Dec | 2.6 |
Basis: mean daily solar irradiance in kWh/m²/day; 1 kWh/m² is roughly one hour of full midday sun (1,000 W/m²). Not the same as measured sunshine duration. Typical monthly value (climate normal), not a forecast.
Directly reachable from
Destination airports of Madeira and every European departure airport with a direct connection to them.
Destination airports
Select a destination airport to see the direct departure airports.
“Directly reachable” means a direct connection exists according to our sources. We do not show a live timetable. Availability and flight days can vary by season and airline.
Madeira in detail
An archipelago of two inhabited islands
The Autonomous Region of Madeira comprises the main island of Madeira, the smaller island of Porto Santo, the uninhabited Ilhas Desertas and the likewise uninhabited Ilhas Selvagens, some 280 kilometres to the south. Porto Santo was discovered in 1418; its first governor, Bartolomeu Perestrelo, was the father of Filipa de Perestrelo e Moniz, who later married Christopher Columbus while he lived on Madeira for a few years before 1492. Unlike the main island, Porto Santo has a sandy beach about nine kilometres long.
The main island: dimensions and volcanic origin
The main island covers 740.7 square kilometres, measures 57 by 22 kilometres and reaches 1,862 metres at the Pico Ruivo; at the end of 2021 it had 245,595 inhabitants. It lies 951 kilometres southwest of Lisbon and 737 kilometres west of the Moroccan coast, in the Atlantic Ocean. Madeira sits on the African Plate, is volcanic in origin and formed by a hotspot; its cliffs drop away underwater to as much as 4,000 metres to the sea floor. Near Câmara de Lobos on the southwest coast stands the Cabo Girão, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe at around 580 metres, with a glass-floored viewing platform since 2012.
Laurel forest, levadas, endemics
About a fifth of the island, some 150 square kilometres, is covered by the Laurisilva laurel forest, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site since 1999 and a refuge for plant species that were also native to Europe during the warmer Tertiary period. The levadas, artificial irrigation channels, run across the whole island; they have carried water from the rainier north to the drier south to the fields since the island was settled. Of the roughly 793 originally native higher plant species, about 118 are considered endemic to Madeira and a further 69 endemic to the biogeographic region of Macaronesia; of an estimated more than 3,340 animal species on the island, about 900 are considered endemic to Madeira or Macaronesia, most of them beetles and snails. The endemic Madeira lizard is most closely related to the spectacled lizard found in Morocco; there are no snakes on Madeira.
Sugar, wine and English influence
The Portuguese settled Madeira from 1420 at the instigation of Henry the Navigator; the island is considered the first outside Europe to be permanently settled by Europeans. Sugar cane was planted from 1420, and the first watermill to process it was built in 1452; by the middle of the fifteenth century Madeira had become the centre of Portuguese sugar cane cultivation. After the decline of sugar cane production, many plantations were turned into vineyards; in the sixteenth century Madeira became a wine exporter, with vines that had originally come from Cyprus, Crete and Sicily. In the 1668 Treaty of Lisbon, Portugal had to make concessions to England, after which English merchants settled on the island to export wine; during the Napoleonic Wars, Madeira was occupied by England from 1801 to 1814.
An emperor in exile, a storm, autonomy
The last Austro-Hungarian emperor, Charles I, banished to Madeira in exile in 1921, died there on 1 April 1922 in Monte above Funchal and was buried in the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte. On 20 February 2010, a severe storm caused flooding and landslides that damaged mainly the densely populated southern coastal region; at least 40 people died. After the Carnation Revolution of 1974, Madeira gained internal autonomy in 1976, with its own government and parliament. The Autonomous Region is divided into eleven municipalities, all but Porto Santo on the main island.
Funchal, crafts and cuisine
The island's chief town is Funchal, with the Sé cathedral, the Mercado dos Lavradores market hall and a botanical garden above the town. Camacha keeps the traditional craft of basket weaving from willow rods. Azulejos, brightly painted glazed ceramic tiles, arrived in Portugal from Moorish workshops in southern Spain around 1500; most of the azulejos in Madeira's churches date from the seventeenth century, when blue-and-white designs modelled on Chinese ware became fashionable. The cuisine includes the black scabbardfish, a deep-sea fish living at depths of 200 to 1,700 metres that occurs in only a few regions worldwide, among them the waters around Madeira and Japan; Madeira wine is made mainly from four grape varieties, with the rare Terrantez grape also used, and matured by heating in what are called estufas.
Frequently asked questions about the best time to visit Madeira
Short answers on timing, weather and getting there, all from the data on this page.
When is the best time to visit Madeira?
- The best time to visit Madeira is September (Wk 37–39): it is the quietest stretch among the region's best weather weeks – crowd level around 65 out of 100, weather comfort about 87 out of 100.
When is Madeira quietest?
- January (Wk 2–4) is the quietest time in Madeira. Crowd levels there sit at 0–2 out of 100, the lowest across the year.
When is Madeira busiest?
- Madeira is busiest in September (Wk 36) with around 233,597 overnight stays in the peak week.
What is the weather like in Madeira and when is it warmest?
- It is warmest in Madeira in August with an average of 21 °C and around 7 mm of rain in the month.
How do you get to Madeira?
- Madeira is reachable via 2 destination airports with direct flights, including Madeira Airport (FNC) and Porto Santo Airport (PXO).
Quiet travel windows across Europe, once a month
The Crowd Report names the emptiest weeks of the coming months — for every region, not just this one. Free, unsubscribe any time.
Sources and data vintages
Every provenance note on this page, collected in one place.
- Cover photo
- Photo by Piotr Musioł on Unsplash
- Crowding figures
- Index 2.0 · As of 25/08/2026. v1 approximation, calculated from Eurostat overnight stays. Day tourism and cruises (Venice, Dubrovnik …) are still missing, so we show these destinations as quieter than they are. The crowd score is a model-based forecast, not a measurement.
- Climate data
- Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2025.
- Reachability
Data sources: direct connections from Wikipedia (“Airlines and destinations”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, aggregated and modified by us), cross-checked with Eurostat, Destatis and the UK Civil Aviation Authority; airport data from OurAirports (Public Domain). The derived connection data is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Data as of: September 2026
- Region text
- Text by HolidayHub, written from Wikivoyage „Madeira“ (1783863) · Wikipedia „Madeira“ (269568780) · Wikidata Q30188. Wikivoyage and Wikipedia are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikidata CC0.
- Data basis
- All figures are approximations derived from open data (crowd level from Eurostat overnight stays, climate from Copernicus/ERA5-Land), not measurements.